1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ion exchange scrubber, and more particularly, to an ion exchange scrubber in which an ion exchange resin is used to remove a harmful substance from a gas, and the contaminated ion exchange resin is cleaned by an aqueous solution and restored, thereby processing the contaminated gas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional gas scrubbers that use water need a large amount of water in order to remove harmful substances contained in the gas. Using a large amount of water is a great burden to the economy of the gas scrubbers. Since conventional gas scrubbers exhaust a large amount of contaminated water, treatment of the contaminated water also acts as a considerable economical burden. In addition, conventional gas scrubbers have a complex structure, and produce a powder of chloride during the removal of the harmful substances from the contaminated gas. The powder clogs the tubes or nozzles of the gas scrubber, which frequently causes problems.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to resolve the aforementioned problems and to provide an ion exchange scrubber in which an ion exchange resin is used to remove a gas. An aqueous solution, which is stored in the scrubber, is used to clean and restore the used scrubber, and significantly reduces the amount of water used. As a result, the ion exchange scrubber has a high gas efficiency and economy.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ion exchange scrubber that is operable without a nozzle, thereby reducing the risk of problems due to the nozzle being clogged.
To accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides an ion exchange scrubber. The ion exchange scrubber has a housing and a partition plate installed within the housing, that partitions an inner space of the housing in a longitudinal direction into two chambers which are filled with a predetermined amount of aqueous solution. Upper end portions of the two partitioned chambers communicate with each other. At least one cartridge is installed in an upper portion and has an ion exchange resin. At least one gas inlet hole is formed in an external plate of the chamber at a position below a position where the cartridge is installed. At least one gas inlet tube is connected to the gas inlet hole. A gas exhaust hole is formed in an upper plate of the housing. At least one introduction/exhaustion hole is formed at a lower portion of the chamber, for supplying or draining the aqueous solution. At least one connection tube connects the introduction/exhaustion holes with each other. At least one level control valve is installed in the at least one connection tube.
The ion exchange resin adsorbs contaminant contained in the gas. By alternately pumping the aqueous solution from one side chamber to the other side chamber and raising the level of the aqueous solution in a chamber, the ion exchange resin is immersed and cleaned in the aqueous solution to desorb the contaminant. Therefore, repetitive use of the ion exchange resin is possible even with a small amount of water.
Furthermore, in another embodiment, a gas scrubber that uses water is connected to the ion exchange scrubber, and the aqueous solution filling the chambers is allowed to circulate and drive the gas scrubber, thereby processing the contaminated gas economically and effectively.